A series of ecological and wildlife training workshops will take place across 5 priority woodlands in the Dearne Valley, identified by the DVLP:

1. Wombwell Woods (Wombwell, Barnsley)
2. West Haigh Woods (near Grimethorpe)
3. Potters Hole Plantation (near Tankersley, Barnsley)
4. Wath Wood (Wath, Rotherham)
5. Howell Wood (Doncaster)

The workshops will cover a wide range of wildlife themes to help promote biodiversity and sensitive management of priority woodlands in the Dearne Valley. These include identification and survey workshops, learning about amphibians and reptiles, bird and bat surveys along with winter tree and woodland plant identification. All these will be combined with workshops helping the local community to interpret and understand the archaeology and past heritage of many sites which has led to this unique and varied assemblage of plants and animals we see today.

(Potters Hole Plantation LNR, one of the 5 priority woodlands for the project)

These semi-ancient woodlands are of local and national significance for biodiversity. Therefore it is important we encourage and educate people in the Dearne to play a part in protecting and enhancing such sites, to help to conserve rare and vulnerable habitats and species that inhabit them.

The public workshops, suitable for all ages and skill levels, will be delivered by the DVLP, in partnership with consultant ecologists Haycock & Jay Associates Ltd, as part of a two-year survey and training programme. The project will have workshops suitable for families and children, as well as those that cater for specialists with an interest in natural history. These workshops will help the DVLP provide new opportunities and develop new survey skills within the local community and obtain more wildlife records for local biological records centres, aiding future protection.

As well as developing the training and survey programme, Haycock and Jay Associates Ltd will be helping to develop new conservation management plans to ensure future protection of the woodlands. he project aims to encourage people to explore and protect their local woodlands building on a number of similar initiatives delivered by the DVLP in South Yorkshire. For full details of all the workshops and walks please visit our events page.